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An in-flight magazine seems like a relic of a bygone era. With seatback entertainment, laptops, tablets, phones, video games, Kindles, and more, passengers have plenty to keep themselves occupied while flying. United Airlines was the last of the big three airlines in the United States to offer a printed magazine. Hemispheres offered content that I found largely interesting and who didn’t like unfolding the route map in the center to dream of your next destination? This all ends soon.
United Airlines began printing Hemispheres magazine back in 1992. It featured a good mix of travel content, celebrity fluff, and lots of ads for high-end doctors. I always looked forward to reading the “Three Perfect Days” features and doing the crossword puzzles.
I honestly can’t say that I’m surprised that it’s going away. Aside from this blog, I work in media and manage the advertising sales teams for 21 brands. We have magazines, websites, newsletters, and more. Content is consumed differently and we have adapted to these changes. Magazines carry high costs. Between the writing, editing, production, printing, shipping, etc. there is a lot spent to get the paper edition into your hands. That’s not to mention the added weight to flights as these are constantly being flown around on the aircraft.
A United spokesperson shared this with Modern Retail:
A digital experience allows us to make Hemispheres even better — we can reach a wider audience, offer more personalized content and tell richer stories. We’ve even hired additional United staff to help us bring this new vision to life. We’re excited about the future possibilities and look forward to sharing more details soon.”
It’s unknown what a digital version of the magazine will look like and how much will be invested in creating content. Times change and this is the latest casualty. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest all folded their magazines during the pandemic. United held out and I’m sad to see it now going.
Anthony’s Take: If I had to choose, I would definitely take Wi-Fi over a magazine. But, there is something quaint to disconnecting and reading about some far-flung locale that you can add to your travel bucket list. Goodbye, Hemispheres.
(Image Credits: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
